inherited pond with goldfish

[kath99]

Hi
We just moved to Cornwall and have moved into a rented house. In the garden is a small (3-4ft wide) murky green pond with 3 goldfish. I haven't delved about in the water but frankly it looks terrible (I'm not bothered about this, I'm bothered about the fishes' wellbeing) - I don't see any plants or filtration, and both the previous tenant and the owner told me they don't feed them. The ponds leaks to about 5" below the top of the pond (it's a liner) so I've been topping it up with the hose, if only to provide a bit of aeration and to dilute the water. Is this recommended? Can I overdo it? (ie stressing the fish, chlorine.)

I'd like a bit of advice on what's most urgent please as I haven't a clue. I don't mind getting a few plants in, cleaning it and so on, but as it's a rented house I don't want to spend money on major changes such as filtration. Should I be feeding them? How often and what with? I bought some goldfish flakes and we've been throwing in swatted flies from the house but I don't want to overdo it.

I'd be very grateful for some advice
thanks,kath99

 

[dieselplower]

If it is well water I would not worry about topping off but if it is city water it would be more ideal to treat the water when adding. I guess it hasn't killed the fish yet though.... You could always let the pond leak down to the hole and then drain a bit more out and cover the hole with a pond liner patch from home depot or Lowe's they are pretty cheap. The green stuff is probably algae. Although it looks bad, its usually not bad for the fish. The algae actually "eat" the pollutants in the water that would be harmful to the fish. if there really are only 3 fish, they can probably find enough to eat on their own. Feeding them will just get them pooping more, which will be worse for the water quality. I think the main concern would be the oxygen level in the pond. Seems like topping it off regularly would help. If I were to rent a place like that, what I would likely do is spend some money on a pump that is good for about 300 Gallons per hour and then line a milk crate or something like it with quilt batting, cheap from Walmart. It is very good at filtering out the junk and can be easily rinsed clean. The agitation from the water flowing back into the pond would aerate the water as well. Can you post a pic of the pond?

 

[kath99]

thanks - couple of photos attached.

 

[dieselplower]

Not too shabby. i know you don't wanna invest a lot but a crate with batting could rest right on top of the grate. Find a nice water lily and some water hyacinth and you've got a good thing going! Is there electric near the pond?

 

[kath99]

Call it a US-UK language issue , what do you mean by batting? There was a wire mesh over the top but everything had overgrown so badly we had to take it off and cut the plants behind it down. i just stuck an old fire surround on the top as I've seen a few cats about. I'll check out the water plant shops round here and get a couple of oxygenators (like the sound of water hyacinth too). I'll top the water up once a week as you suggest, and stop feeding them. Electric not close and we have to be careful cos the voltage is higher over here (I just moved back from Colorado actually!) Thanks very much for your advice, I feel a bit better already

 

[Mmathis]

Welcome to our group!

I agree with Diesel that a a small pump would be a good investment. Don't know about where you are, but here you can find some reasonably priced that might fit your needs. Do you know how deep the pond is? You don't ever want to set the pump directly on the pond-bottom, because if there was a problem with the plumbing, the pond would completely drain and kill the fish. So it's a good idea to elevate the pump by setting on a plastic crate. Even if you didn't want to use filtration, you could fit the end of the tubing with an aerator and that would move the water around and help add oxygen.

A water lily would look pretty there, and it would provide shade for the fish.

And I wouldn't worry about feeding them. There's plenty of "food" in all the algae.

One thing I've learned is to GO SLOW and DON'T make too many changes at one time -- well, sorry, that's 2 things. But basically, give things a chance to give results before you jump in with something else. Ponds require patience and they have a delicate balance so you have to go slow.

 

[kath99]

thanks for the advice - I'll look into pumps too.

 

[sissy]

Welcome but i saw a comment about chlorine in you introduction .Is there chlorine in your water because that is not good for the fish .I have this set up in 2 of my stock tanks .The pump is in a bucket and I filled the bucket with lava rocks and then placed the basket on top with the hose running up through the holes in the basket and quilt batting in it .Then in my filters I have a hose from the pump going into a basket filled with quilt batting and running back into the pond .It picks up all the fine stuff but must be cleaned often .Our quilt batting in a bag is for the inside of when you make a quilt and is polyester and the way we buy lava rock here
[sharedmedia=core:attachments:54043]

[sharedmedia=core:attachments:53602]
[sharedmedia=core:attachments:52795]
[sharedmedia=core:attachments:58369]
[sharedmedia=core:attachments:58368]
[sharedmedia=core:attachments:58367]
[sharedmedia=core:attachments:54073]
[sharedmedia=core:attachments:53507]
[sharedmedia=core:attachments:52128]
I hope this helps explain it

 

[kath99]

That is super helpful sissy, thank you! I hope my fish water ends up as clear as yours. Thanks for the advice everyone.

 

[sissy]

I am glad I have pics to give people an understanding of what we are talking about .You can build your self a filter really easy lots of video's on you tube a tote and a tank adapter and your done but for now just something simple like a crate in the middle with a pump and hose and quilt batting will help a lot .A tote that I put another same sized tote in to make it last longer and then a drill bit and drill to cut the whole and a tank adapter works great as a filter .
[sharedmedia=core:attachments:57138]Fill it with lava rock and put hose in and your done .I also used pvc T and extra pipe so water can go in the top through my fine filter basket and then go down through the lava rock and then come back up the pipe and go out the tank adapter
[sharedmedia=core:attachments:52797]
[sharedmedia=core:attachments:52793]
[sharedmedia=core:attachments:52791]
[sharedmedia=core:attachments:52790]